Amazing tone with my headphones... why?

[WhoSeyes]

Hi,


I've been playing bass for 4 years right now. I've always played at home with my small Orange combo (35w) and rehearse with a 2x10" behringer (uh!) combo.

I've also played with a fullstack ampegs, a marshall 4x10" combo and a 15" Fender combo...


But today I plugged in my Orange small combo a set of headphones... and I GOT AN AMAZING TONE that I hadn't heard before coming from my hands and my bass (a Fender precission, by te way, fingerstyle).


So... can you tell me if this is normal and why does this happen? I've thought that it may be for the good response of the speakers to the high frequencies (tiny speakers in the headphones)... I get some distorted lows but amazing highs.


Thanks in advance for your responses!

[warnergt]

I don't have an answer but I can say that, when I put my cordless
Logitech headphones on to listen to TV, the bass guitar sound just jumps
out and sounds soooo good. One example is Will Lee on David Letterman --
just awesome! Even TV commercials sound better. I hear bass guitars
on commercials playing and I tell myself "Wow! I gotta learn that tune!"

[Stumbo]

You might want to check out:
Using a full range cab (Carvin LS1503)
1x15/6.5 custom cab
Powerful,reliable rack amps

Throw in a high quality tube pre-amp and you might get where you want to go.

[uethanian]

i've found the same things through my amps...when you listen through headphones your tone sounds very rich because (conjecture) all the frequencies are concentrated on a small space and there isn't a lot of dissipation. whereas when you sit in front of a speaker, either 1)you are not hearing all lows/mids because the wavelengths are longer than the airspace between you and the speaker (again, conjecture), and 2)sound is dissipating in all directions and at different rates, so you will never hear an even spectrum of frequencies.

so i don't think it's particular to any type of gear/brand. hearing a bass through headphones (or on a track that's been directly recorded) is like hearing the actual signal, rather than the airspace-that's-been-vibrated-by-the-signal.

[varunkapahi]

you need hi-fi cabs!

[WhoSeyes]

Thanks for the answers!

I'm really diggin that 1x15/6.5 cab, Stumbo!!